Memento Mori
by Cosmic Kiss
Summary: During the Wizarding wars, Ophelia Burke, a former Death Eater committed inconceivable acts that plague the world to this very day. One question still largely remains unanswered, how could a young witch with such a bright future commit these atrocities? Simple. If there was one lesson that Tom Riddle taught her, it was that the strong lead and the weak bleed. Tom Riddle Jr/OC.
1. Prologue

**"** **You may write me down in history  
With your bitter, twisted lies,  
You may tread me in the very dirt  
But still, like dust, I'll rise."  
\- Maya Angelou**

 **22nd June 1998 **

**Prologue**

Ophelia Burke was afraid.

Not because she was faced with the possibility of suffering a fate worse than death. No, after the siege at Hogwarts that resulted in the death of her master, she knew that the Ministry would come for her.

She was afraid of being forgotten.

Ophelia didn't care about justice. She was a Burke, part of the Sacred Twenty-Eight, the law didn't apply to her. Her grandfather Caractacus would constantly drill that into her head. He may have been a con man but he was more of a father to her then her own father. All she cared about was that everything she had done over the last forty years will have been for naught.

Kingsley Shacklebolt cleared his throat, trying to bring order to the gossiping hordes that flooded the chamber but to no avail. With a sigh, Kingsley pointed his wand to his throat and cast an amplifying charm.

"I will have order." Kingsley said, emitting such a calming aura that the rest of the Wizengamot instantly silenced themselves. "Thank you. Now onto more pressing matters at hand."

Carnivorous eyes focused on the elderly women in the centre of the courtroom, she carried herself with a high degree of dignity that commandeered the attention of the Wizengamot.

"Let the records show that the trial of Ophelia Elizabeth Burke, residency unknown, has now reached its conclusion. Interrogators: Kingsley Shacklebolt, acting Minister for Magic and Gawain Robards, Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement. Ms. Burke, you stand here on the twenty-second of June and your crimes too numerous to list but include aiding and abetting the Dark Lord and most notably, the murder of Igor Karkaroff. I believe the court has done everything in its power to prove your accountability for the aforementioned crimes. But to ensure that justice has truly been served, what do you have to say for yourself?"

For the first time since the start of her trail, Ophelia Burke unashamedly looked up from her lap and acknowledged the people surrounding her. A small smile that took years off of her face formed upon her stern lips, heavily lidded hazel eyes revealed the merriment she took from the looks of disgust she was subjected to.

Knowing that this would be the last time Ophelia would be in this court as a free woman, it seemed almost foolish that her only wish was if only her late mother could see her now.

Crystal tears pooled at the bottom of her dark lashes but not from regret. The only regret she had was that she was still alive in this realm but the Dark Lord wasn't. Without him, Ophelia had very little reason to exist in this mortal plain. In a temporary moment of clarity, she realised the irony of her birth name and how apt it was in the given moment.

The entire trial was a sham from the start, Kingsley Shacklebolt needed a scapegoat to prove to the wizarding world that he was a capable of eradicating the corrupt old ways. And who better to start with than her, a pure-blood supremacist that was known to have been associated with the Dark Lord since their time together as students in Hogwarts. It was a miracle Ophelia had evaded capture for over forty years, but it only stood as a testament to her great skill.

"…You might as well just send me to the Dementers." Ophelia croaked, her throat hoarse from the relentless chill of the cells.

Once upon a time, Ophelia would have felt some type of remorse but she was no longer the same naïve teenager that believed in equality. Dumbledore made sure of that the day he stripped all the happiness out of her life.

"The Dark Lord may be gone but somebody else will take his place. After all," Ophelia crossed her legs and laughed bitterly. "The strong lead and the weak _bleed_ , that's the way the world has always worked. You're a fool Shacklebolt, trying to maintain this so-called illusion of 'peace' but in reality you're just one man. People will always cling to the old ways; your family certainly did!"

A shockwave of horror burst forth from the jury, the sound echoed off the walls forcing the Chief Warlock to quieten the room with a small charm.

"Order, order! I will not ask anyone again; you will be thrown out of the courtroom." Gawain roared, redirecting attention to the issues at hand. "I gather by your testimony Ms, Burke that you show no signs of repentance for your actions against wizard and mugglekind. Regardless of your beliefs, at no point were your actions noble or justified. In fact, the Ministry gauges your true body count to be higher than the number on our records and it is with great misfortune that some families out there will never receive the closure they're seeking because we are unable to prove it-"

Kingsley placed a hand on Gawain's shoulder to rein the older man in, "That's enough."

Pure disgust filled Gawain's eyes and admittedly he should have recused himself from this case from the very beginning. Burke had murdered his wife in cold blood in retaliation for sending her brother to Azkaban. However as one of the oldest living Aurors, he was a favourable candidate. Plus, the exposure from this case alone would make him prime contender for Head of Magical Law Enforcement after Harry Potter was the front runner for Head of Aurors.

"You can't allow your own feelings to cloud your judgment," Kingsley murmured to prevent the others from hearing.

Gawain grit his teeth before nodding, he would get his revenge.

"Ophelia Elizabeth Burke. On the charges of first degree murder, the unlawful usage of the three Unforgivable Curses, treason..."

Ophelia closed her eyes and imagined herself in another time, another place, anywhere that was far away from this stand. True, all of the stories about her were correct in one way or another but they never publicized the real reason Ophelia allied herself with the Dark Lord in the first place. Otherwise it would have been a declaration on the failings of the school system.

"Therefore, I believe that we have no choice but to sentence you to the maximum allowed tariff in Azkaban…"

By the time her sentence was passed, Ophelia Burke was no longer in the dreary London courtroom. She was eleven again standing on Platform Nine and Three-Quarters, filled with unbridled happiness. As Ophelia was roughly pulled to her feet by the Auror guards, she could only reminisce about how the events of her youth had sealed her fate. Before the world had known him as Voldemort, she only knew him as Tom Riddle, the only wizard that was capable of changing a chaotic world and bring order to it.

* * *

 **Author's Notes: Wow I can't believe I've been gone from this site for 3 years O_O**

 **I'd like to credit my beta reader amortentia1992 for looking over this. I plan on updating this story once a week, I already have Chapter 1 ready to publish and Chapter 2 is in the process of being written.**

 **Thank you to old readers and new readers who have chosen to click on this story that I've been planning to write for a couple years. I was interested in exploring Tom Riddle's character since it was who he was before he became Voldemort and I wanted to explore the experiences that made him into who he grew up to become.**

 **This story will feature a characters whose names were mentioned in the series but their characters weren't expanded on, including the original Death Eaters and Alphard Black, just to name a couple. However, there are still quite a few roles in the story that I need to fill and there aren't many Hogwarts student's canon characters during Tom Riddle's time that weren't in Slytherin.**

Here are the gaps:

Professors for Divination, Charms, Astronomy and Ancient Runes

3 Gryffindor students that highlight the negative attributes of that house and 1 that highlights the positives.

Ravenclaw students- 3 girls, 2 guys

Hufflepuff students

OC Form:

Name:

Age: (only applicable if professor)

Gender:

House:

Blood status: (No pureblood students, pureblood professors are fine)

Appearance:

Personality:

Skills: (areas of magic they are skilled in)

 **Feel free to submit a character via PM, (I can't accept any submitted in reviews) and leave me a review if you have a comment x**


	2. My Wand!

**A/N: And right on time here's the next chapter of 'Still I Rise'. Thank you to my 6 followers and the 3 people who faved it, along with Sanokal and percabethbooklion who was nice enough to leave a review. I'm still accepting ocs to anybody who is interested, I hope you like Chapter 1 and I'll see you all next week.**

* * *

" **Don't be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better."**

 **-Ralph Waldo Emerson**

 **Chapter 1**

 **1** **st** **September 1939**

"My wand!" Hazel eyes flashed with despair at the scene unfolding before them.

It was dangerously close to 11am and the young girl wasn't even close to boarding the Hogwarts Express.

She stretched out her hand as if at any given moment it would suddenly gain the ability to stretch five feet. How could her older brother have been so cruel to throw her wand on the train tracks? He always joked about how he didn't want her at Hogwarts cramping his style but wasn't that what older siblings did? Now she suspected that he had been deadly serious and did this ensure that she would stay out of his way. Not to mention his friends were horrid to boot, they encouraged his actions and laughed at her feeble attempts to fight back.

She hated that he was only a year older than her and yet he went out of his way to make life difficult for her. What had she ever done to him?

Well she would show him.

Her chest swelled up with pride at the thought of surpassing her brother in all areas of magic. It would be challenging but to see the look on his face…

A small smirk broke out on the girl's face and she was so lost in her thoughts, she failed to notice the dark-haired boy approaching her.

"What are you looking at?" He asked, curiously peering over the train tracks.

She yelped, almost falling head first if not for the boy's assistance who quickly pulled her backwards.

"You're heavier than you look you know." He teased, watching her fan her hands around her face in an attempt to calm herself.

"Y-y-you…" Shock was painted on the girl's face and she seemed unable to form a coherent sentence until the boy clapped his hands in front of her face.

"I'm not fat!" She blurted out.

"Uh huh. So why aren't you on the train?"

She pointed at the almost white wand that was stuck in the valley between the Hogwarts Express and the platform. "My brother threw my wand down there and if my parents found out I lost my first wand, they'll never ever trust me again and everybody else is already on the train-" She babbled and her voice took on an almost hysterical tone.

"Nice brother you got." He laughed, interrupting her while pulling out his own wand and aimed it at the fallen wand. "There's a spell my mum always uses when she can't reach the pots in the kitchen. I haven't tried it myself yet but I've seen her do it loads of times."

"Wait how old are you?" She asked, holding onto his wand to prevent any further actions.

"Eleven and let go. You're running out of time and this'll be great practise for me. What could go wrong?"

The girl weighed up her options and reluctantly dropped her hand. As much as she'd hate to admit it, he was right. The train was due to depart in five minutes and it would leave with or without her.

The boy's face filled with immense concentration and his gaze was preoccupied with the girl's wand. "Accio wand!" He bellowed, drawing a bump in the air.

The fallen wand unexpectedly hurtled towards the boy at a high speed and smacked him in the face before he could react. He cried out in pain as a bright red mark was now forming on his face.

"It's 10:57! Come on!" He barely had any time to register the pain when the girl grabbed his arm and dragged him into the nearest carriage.

After finding an empty compartment, the pair sat down and heard the whistle, signalling the train's departure.

"Phew, that was a close one." The girl let out a sigh of relief and sank into the fabric.

"You know a 'thank you' wouldn't go amiss. What's your name anyway?" He watched as she pulled out a book from her backpack.

She set the book on her lap and bit her bottom lip. "…Ophelia."

He grinned, wiping his hand on his trousers before offering it to her. "I'm Alphard."

Ophelia hesitantly looked at his hand, trying to decide if Alphard had any ulterior motive. Eventually she shook it and gave him an awkward smile, not knowing what to do next.

"So what house do you think you're going to be in?" Alphard laughed at his companion's awkwardness.

Ophelia's thumb found its way in her mouth as she nibbled on her nail. "Hopefully Slytherin. It's what my parents expect of me you see; my family have always been in Slytherin. Although my brother keeps saying I won't make it in but I have to." Her voice wavered.

"Ah right." Alphard paused, not knowing how to lighten the situation. "All my family have been sorted into Slytherin too, so I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Right." She gave out a nervous laugh, twisting her hands through her now-frizzy mahogany tresses.

* * *

)O(

Ophelia's first thought was that Alphard was either very brave or had no regard for his own mortality. After all, why else would he be standing up in a rowboat that had nothing to stop him from falling into the black lake?

"Ayyy," Alphard waved his arms around, violently rocking the boat with water rushing over the sides. "This is just like that muggle sport where they ride on pieces of wood!"

"S-stop it!" The blonde haired boy sharing the boat with them exclaimed, desperately grabbing hold of the boat's edge. "If anything happens to me, my father will-"

"Oh lighten up Abraxas!" Alphard cupped some water from the lake and splashed it over him. "After tonight, we'll never get another opportunity to do this again!"

Abraxas shot him a murderous look, "If we die tonight we'll never get another opportunity to experience life!"

Before Alphard had time for a retort, Groundskeeper Ogg finally saw what the eleven-year-old was doing. "Young man, you get down from there right now. I won't ask you again."

"Or wha-whooooa- " He fell backwards into the ink black waters, sinking almost instantaneously with bubbles marking his descent.

"Alphard!" Ophelia cried out, plunging her hand in after him grasping nothing but handfuls of ice water.

The students in the neighbouring boats looked on with morbid curiosity, one even broke out in nervous laughter.

"Help him!" Another screamed, wondering why Ogg made no attempt to aid the young boy in his charge.

Without warning, an impossibly long purple tentacle pierced the surface of the lake, wrapped around a now soaking Alphard who seemed physically unharmed. It plopped him back into his seat and disappeared beneath the murky lake.

Abraxas had a smug 'I told you so' look and was getting ready to gloat, until he caught sight of the castle and lost his train of thought.

"Wow," gasps flooded the air and for the first time in her life, Ophelia felt at peace.

She was home.

)O(

"Black, Alphard."

Black.

It was as if the room was spinning because Ophelia had momentarily lost her ability to breathe.

Alphard was a Black.

He was a member of the Black Family.

A family that was significantly wealthier and respected than her own.

Ophelia cursed herself for not seeing it sooner because it was now becoming increasingly obvious. The way he carried himself, how he managed to summon her wand and all his family were in Slytherin.

Alphard waggled his eyebrows, pulling silly faces as Professor Dumbledore dropped an old beaten black hat on his head. It was quite a sight considering he was still dripping from his encounter with the giant squid.

Ophelia's stomach churned, once he found out she was a Burke he would never want to speak to her again. Her family made a living by swindling anything of value from anyone and half the time, _she_ didn't even believe what came out of her father's mouth half the time.

"SLYTHERIN!"

Rambunctious cheering broke out from the table in the far corner, a few members were even giving a standing ovation at their new addition. While Alphard made his way to the Slytherin table, a girl with mousy brown hair abruptly fell off the bench.

"Move, fucking half-breed." Hissed an older looking girl that greatly resembled Alphard, except instead of having the same lopsided smile as him, she looked like she was sucking a very sour lemon.

He didn't look particularly happy to see her but sat down next to her nonetheless.

"Burke, Ophelia."

She swallowed hard. This was it.

Ophelia balled her hands at her sides, hastily making her way to the stool before she could run back to the boats and somehow find a way to get her mother to pick her up.

Professor Dumbledore gave Ophelia what she interpreted as a reassuring smile before plopping the hat on her head, the brim thankfully obscuring her vision from the crowd.

' _Another Burke, I see.'_

Her eyes widened in shock, the hat could speak!

' _Can everybody else hear it?'_ She wondered, her knees shook in anticipation.

' _Hmm not what I was expecting at all,'_ it mused. ' _You're no fool, that much is certain but you lack ambition. Still, I see untapped potential and a lot of it, yet do you have the courage to do what needs to be done in order to reach it? I can't see you being in Hufflepuff nor… Gryffindor.'_

Ophelia's chest felt as if it was going to explode. Granted she didn't want to be in Gryffindor, her parents would have a heart attack, or Hufflepuff but the hat hadn't even considered her for Slytherin!

"Please, please, I have to be in Slytherin." She mumbled under her breath, silently praying for the hat to listen to her.

' _Slytherin, hmm? No, not Slytherin I just can't see you doing very well there. So that only leaves one option!'_

"RAVENCLAW!"

Ice flooded Ophelia's veins as a scattered applause rang in her ears. It had to be a dream, this couldn't be happening.

' _This entire time he was right_ ,' she held back her tears as she numbly made her way to the Ravenclaw table. ' _Lennox was right; I am a disgrace.'_

Ophelia's eyes scanned the Slytherin table and flinched once she found her older brother. He had the same look in his eyes from earlier that day when he threw her wand in the tracks.

Laughter.

He enjoyed seeing her fail and this was the ultimate disaster. What would their parents think once this reached them? This would only solidify her father's opinion of her, the first female in the Burke line after nearly two centuries and she was utterly useless.

Ophelia had to hold back her tears, she couldn't break down, not here in front of all these strangers. Her nails dug into her palms, crescent marks forming under the pressure. It stung but it forced her to confront reality.

She was in Ravenclaw, nothing could be done about that. But she could choose where to go from here.

Ophelia's hazel eyes somehow connected with Alphard's dark brown ones and instead of looking away in disgust, he smiled at her and gave a small salute.

* * *

 **I'm assuming that Dumbledore would have been deputy head considering his magical talents, experience and it would explain why he visited Tom in the Orphanage to deliver his Hogwarts letter.**

 **Ophelia was raised in a pure blood family where she wasn't allowed to interact with muggles or even other witches/wizards, so she would assume what her parents told her about pure bloods being superior magic-wise is true. This is why she thinks Alphard was able to perform a summoning charm even though 4** **th** **years and above are taught it.**


End file.
